Tool for removing glue



July 13,1965

H. J. GARIEPY TOOL FOR REMOVING GLUE Filed NOV. 22, 1963 ail-WW,

United States Patent 3,193,924 TOOL FOR REMOVING GLUE Henry J. Gariepy, Gariepy Products, Inc., South Ashburnham, Mass. Filed Nov. 22, 1963, Ser. No. 325,656 2 Claims. (Cl. 30-168) This invention relates to a power operated tool particularly adapted for the removal of glue in the manufacture of furniture, but usable where found convenient, otherwise. When spindles, legs, arms, etc. are inserted at their ends, which may have been tenoned, into mortices in furniture parts, and cement or glue applied thereto, ordinarily the cement or glue is in excess and part is pressed out of the mor-tice onto the surface of the piece in which the mortice appears. This must be removed. Furniture glue is fast setting and extremely hard, and it is very difiicult to remove it by hand tools because the chisels ordinarily used tend to dig into the surface of the piece of furniture and sometimes chips are cut or splinters made.

It is the general object of the present invention therefore to provide a power tool which is especially adapted for removing the hardened glue without damage to the surface of the furniture, and this is done by providing a power-operated short stroke reciprocating mechanism which preferably operates rectilinearly but can operate orbitally also, and includes a blunt chisel edge of tool steel or the like which having a short fast rectilinear reciprocation, rapidly chips the glue from the surface of the wood but does not tend to dig into the surface of the furniture; and the provision of various modifications of the tool which include concave areas in the chisel in order to partly encompass a spindle or leg which present arcuate or cylindrical surfaces or edges which must be cleaned.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation showing the tool in use;

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation of the tool on a larger scale;

FIG. 3 is a plan view looking in the direction of arrow 2 in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but with the parts broken away and showing a modification.

The removal of excess hard glue from parts of furniture during the manufacture of the furniture has always presented a problem but it is of even greater difficulty at the present time because of the fact that the glues have been improved to such an extent that they are a great deal more adherent and harder, and dry faster. When glue dries on the surface of a piece of furniture, it has to be removed. This glue is ordinarily removed by wood chisels but of course this presents the difiiculty that in unskilled or semi-skilled hands, and even sometimes accidentally when the craftsman is of high skill, the sharpened edge of the chisel is apt to dig into the furniture and gouge or splinter it.

The present invention however overcomes the difiiculty and provides for the removal of the glue by even persons of little skill by the utilization of power means in cooperation with a certain new and novel tool or chisel head.

As shown in FIG. 1, there is a power operated device having for instance an electric cord 12 or the like and it includes an electric motor with mechanism well known in the art to provide for a rectilinear reciprocatory motion of relatively high speed and short stroke which is imparted to a chuck 14 of any description. This chuck removably receives an end of a shank 16 preferably of steel which may have a certain degree of flexibility or may be rigid, and may be held in the chuck by any desired or conventional, means as for instance a screw 18 or the like. This shank may be of any length desired but a shank of approximately two to three inches is found to be satisfactory.

The opposite end of the shank as at 20 is held as by any kind of conventional fastener 22 in a block 24. This block is preferably of tool steel or the like and is pro vided with a relatively elongated forward working portion 26. This working portion 26 is preferably of relative-ly greater thickness compared to an ordinary chisel but it has been found that it does not have to be extremely thick but can vary widely from a minimum of about oneeighth of an inch.

In any event at its forward end this chisel is provided with a sharpened edge 28 which is preferably straight except at its ends as at 30 where it may be cut away to some extent to avoid the presence of sharp corners. One of the novel and peculiar characteristics of this chisel is that it has a very blunt forward end adjacent the edge 28, as indicated by the reference numeral 32. Thus it does not present a knife edge, but instead presents almost a right angle with relation to the flat bottom surface 34 of the chisel head, and as a matter of fact an exact right angle is found to be operative but a little better is an angle between the surfaces 34 and 32 of a little less than The operator can apply the chisel head lightly or with force to the surface 36 which is being operated upon to remove the glue which is indicated at 38 in FIG. 1 without digging in. This glue was expressed from mortice 40 when the tenon 42 was inserted and inasmuch as the glue hardened very swiftly, it is almost impossible to wipe it oif.

The blunt operative end of the chisel head with the sharp edge at 28 has been found to operate extremely successfully to remove .the glue without however digging into the furniture or surface 36 and this is due to the bluntness of the operative edge in the area 32 because no knife edge is presented which might be led into the material by accidentally presenting toogreat an angle to the surface 36 or by too much pressure, or by the presence of rough spots or splinters in the surface 36 such as are normally encountered.

Any person of even slight skill can operate the device to chip off the glue and a few minutes practice will show what hand pressure is most useful to chip the glue.

Looking at FIG. 1 it will be apparent that the glue will be raised on the arc of a circle about the tenon 42 where it intersects surface 36, and in some cases it is found advisable therefore to provide a chisel head, such as is shown in FIG. 4, with a concave sharpened edge 44 but with the same angle in the area at 46 as is shown at 32 in FIG. 2. In this case the hard glue may be chipped away from an arcuate area about the tenon, resulting in a little less work being done and without the necessity of turning the tool as shown in FIG. 1 completely. about the tenon. In the modification shown in FIG. 4 it is also desirable to have the rounded corners at 48 equivalent to those at 30 in FIG. 3.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. A power operated tool for removing glue from wood furniture without damaging the Wood and comprising a handle, a chuck on the handle, a shank removably secured to the chuck at one end, and a relatively heavy, thick metal chisel head, the shank having its end opposite the chuck secured to said chisel head, said chisel head comsemi-flexible.

prising a member of comparative thickness having a forward sharpened edge and a forward blunt surface extend ing from the sharpened edge upwardly, said chisel head having a fiat, coplanar lower surface and an upper surface, the sharpened edge being at the intersection of the lower surface, and the lower flat surface flatly contacting the wood from which the glue is to be chipped, and preventing the sharpened edge from digging into the wood,

said handle being of a type which contains mechanism providing for .a short high speed substantially reciproca- 1 tory motion of the chuck, shank and the, chisel head.

2. The tool recited in claim 1 in which the shank is References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/05 Rohrer 15236 X 2/27. Russell 30272 2 /28 Mernit fl; 30 272 2/47 Meyer- 15236 X 3/54 Stalk 30 169 X FOREIGN PATENTS 3/58- Germany. 7

WILLIAM F-ELDMAN, Primary Examiner. MILTON s. MEHR, Examiner. 

1. A POWER OPERATED TOOL FOR REMOVING GLUE FROM WOOD FURNITURE WITHOUT DAMAGING THE WOOD AND COMPRISING A HANDLE, A CHUCK ON THE HANDLE, A SHANK REMOVABLY SECURED TO THE CHUCK AT ONE END, AND A RELATIVELY HEAVY, THICK METAL CHISEL HEAD, THE SHANK HAVING ITS END OPPOSITE THE CHUCK SECURED TO SAID CHISEL HEAD, SAID HEAD COMPRISING A MEMBER OF COMPARATIVE THICKNESS HAVING A FORWARD SHARPENED EDGE AND A FORWARD BLUNT SURFACE EXTENDING FROM THE SHARPENED EDGE UPWARDLY, SAID CHISEL HEAD HAVING A FLAT, COPLANAR LOWER SURFACE AND AN UPPER SURFACE, THE SHARPENED EDGE BEING AT THE INTERSECTION OF THE FORWARD SURFACE WITH THE LOWER SURFACE, AND SAID BLUNT FORWARD SURFACE EXTENDING UPWARDLY AT A SLIGHT ANGLE WITH RESPECT TO A LINE EXTENDING AT RIGHT ANGLES FROM THE LOWER SURFACE, AND THE LOWER FLAT SURFACE FLATLY CONTACTING THE WOOD FROM WHICH THE GLUE IS TO BE CHIPPED, AND PREVENTING THE SHARPENED EDGE FROM DIGGING INTO THE WOOD, SAID HANDLE BEING OF A TYPE WHICH CONTAINS MECHANISM PROVIDING FOR A SHORT HIGH SPEED SUBSTANTIALLY RECIPROCATORY MOTION OF THE CHUCK, SHANK AND THE CHISEL HEAD. 